Thanks Dave, Riki, Howard, for taking the time to reply; appreciate it. The problem with my handle unit is, it's riveted together. Short of grinding the rivets off and opening it up, it is very hard to see how the 'guts' are supposed to be/work. I will take some pics tomorrow and post; maybe somebody can shed some light on why it doesn't engage. All I know is the 'thumb trigger' to release the gear when the brake is set, has really nice spring tension, but the pawl flips around and if it does engage, its only by chance.

Hi RJR,

The width is 6.50 (verifiable in the model info) and I'm not sure of the backspacing. That tire size (6.50 X 16") IS a little difficult to find in the classic tire offerings of most tire suppliers, although Coker does supply it.
When I bought mine and had them installed, I discovered a bent wheel when balancing, and tried switching it with one of two extra wheels that came with the car. It was bent too. I looked around up here in Canada and could not find any replacement rims. One thing to note is that, if you are going to use 'correct' hubcaps, the rims must have the center clips to receive them. Of my two spare wheels, only one had the clips, so the other was unusable for me, straight or not.
I went looking for a wheel outfit in possession of a wheel-straightening machine and gave them my bent rims and they were able to render them true and balance-able. If you do find a source for correct wheels, my guess is there would be a lot of owners who would be interested, I know I would be.
I will be getting my hands on my two repaired rims in the next couple of weeks and I will measure the backspacing for you, should you still it. Good luck! Chris

Looks quite similar Howard - thank you. I only see one spring in there and it looks like it is that one that returns the release trigger to the unsqueezed position. That small pawl with the teeth - does it just operate on gravity?? I don't see anything that would apply positive pressure to keep it engaged with the receiving teeth on the fixed arm?? it would seem to be prone to sticking or binding with dirt and rust over time, if it was just supposed to 'fall' into the teeth when the lever is engaged??
Has anyone else ever run into this problem??? Chris.

In redoing the brakes on my '39 six, I replaced the E-brake cable which was virtually 'frozen' prior to; now I have a really smooth pull to engage the parking brakes, but I am having troubles with the handle itself. I have it out and it almost looks like there is maybe a spring missing. I can fiddle with it and get the teeth to engage to lock it and the release 'thumb-paddle' has good spring to it, but the toothed cam that interlocks with the main body, goes where it wants, and ultimately disengages, so I can pull the E-brake on, but can't get it to catch and lock. Is there supposed to be an outer spring on that locking pawl?? Is there a parts explosion anywhere on the assembly? If there's a spring, does anyone have/know where I can get one? Notwithstanding, anybody know where I can get a replacement handle that works? I DID buy the replacement rubber grip for it from Steele and it is a perfect repro, so I've got that part covered... Any help, much appreciated. Thanks, Chris

Hi Pat,

I am in the market for a temperature gauge. You say it is 'older' - do you know what year?? I bought a gas/battery cluster on Ebay and it was for a 40 or a 41, and the gauge face was slightly different from mine, but when I took it apart the actual sender face was identical and I just moved it over to my cluster and you can't tell it isn't original. Does your temp gauge have the sender and nut intact?? Thanks, Chris

Not sure if any folks out there caught the TV mini-series 'The Cars That Changed America', which aired recently in my viewing area. It was a 3-part, 2 hour per segment chronology of the advent of the automobile from the turn of the 20th century to the post-war era. Unfortunately, there was zero mention of Packard and it focused on the 'Big Three', although when it showed Henry Ford riding around, he was in a Packard!
Anyway, I noticed on several B&W, old time clips, it showed drivers getting in and out of their cars curbside and made note of it as I had read about that as being the reason the passenger door had the keyed handle, on this site and it certainly confirmed that in the videos.

Other than the fact that I have learned a tremendous amount and met some great people through this site, I sometimes wish I had missed out on it too, Tim!

Hi Marty,

Thanks for the reply. I have posted on the issue ad nauseam and there is a thread entitled 'Return to Forever - the Stalling Issue', in which I outlined in detail, the exact symptoms of the car's performance woes. Bottom line, the engine would start, idle nicely, rev fine, and go great in 1st and 2nd gear on level ground. After that, any uphill load, or trying to get up to highway speed in high gear, the thing would bog and as soon as I came to a stop, the motor would quit. And when I say 'quit', it would just 'coast to a halt' with no sputter or miss, it just lost revs until it wasn't running. Wait 30 to 45 seconds and it would fire right up again and one could repeat that cycle all day long, but needless to say, that is no fun or any way to 'enjoy the Packard'. Re your electrical suggestions, that is something that has been submitted before as a possible solution and I have bypassed the ignition switch with an alligator clip on the main, large hot wire from the battery to the coil and it did not effect any difference. Nor did any other of the dozens of things I tried and parts I have replaced; thus the decision to rebuild. And, from the evaluation of the machine shop, the engine had SERIOUS cylinder wear issues, the wrong rings, significant wear in the valve timing train, all of which could combine to cause the aforementioned symptoms. I will get the engine back, reinstalled and fired up and see where I am. Hopefully, things will be different. Thanks again for your interest. Chris

Hi All,

I have been posting for a couple of years now and have been trying to figure out what is wrong with my '39 Six, which has exhibited a chronic stalling issue since I bought it in early 2016. Not being a mechanic and not being able to find competent help, living in a rural area, I have engaged in the age-old 'trial and error' approach, replacing virtually everything under the hood but the engine. Different so-called 'mechanics' have run various engine 'health' tests on the motor, one being a compression test and I took their 'supposed' findings at face value. I was told the cylinders tested all the same and all were in and around 100/105#'s compression. Although this a bit low, I thought it was just an old motor with some wear and that the problem must be ulterior to the motor. I eventually gave up and decided to pull the block out and have it professionally rebuilt. The rebuilders findings were quite stark. They said it looked like the engine had been properly rebuilt many years ago, with a .30 thou over-bore and new standard shells and mains. Then, also, quite some time ago, the motor was the victim of a 'backyard rebuild' that was a little short of murder in the 1st degree. One cylinder had piston clearance of .45 thou with high to extreme wear on the others. The tech said, it was virtually impossible for the engine to have exhibited 'uniform compression' and at least the one cylinder would have had very little. Thankfully the thing is within spec to rebuild and they bored the worst cylinder to .60 thou over original bore and it 'cleaned up' just fine. Not sure what the second rebuild did as far as boring, other than to say it was botched. The rebuild house says those pre-war era castings are very thick and can take up to .80 thou before sleeving is necessary.
Long story short, that was the answer to my stalling woes and the guy says he has seen this time and again with Continental flathead 6's from forklifts with very high hours on them, and the stalling symptoms are identical to what I was experiencing.
Thought I would post an update and as I progress with the re-install I will no doubt have a couple of questions, so will post my progress as I ask those, with many thanks to all the folks that put up with my frustration in trying to track this thing down for the last couple of years. Hopefully, my car will 'run like a Packard' once I get it back together and I can enjoy it, as was my intention when I fell in love with it and bought it.

I am with Dave (Owen Dyneto) in staying with the cooling system AS IT WAS DESIGNED AND BUILT BY PARCKRD'S ENGINEERS at the factory.The radiators are not made to withstand pressure; this is not to say they do not cool efficiently and if the rad is re-cored, the water pump UP TO SPEC, and the block and head properly flushed, and all other impacting criteria being equal, there is no reason the engine should overheat. I say 'other impacting criteria' because there are a plethora of issues besides water circulation that can cause overheating like exhaust blockages, heat riser valve problems, engine/ valve timing issues, etc. I would think by the time a Packard engine 'boiled over in 118 degrees', there would be other things to worry about like gas boiling in the carb, vapour lock and fuel pumps getting too hot, et al. 118 degrees is pretty hot; not sure I'd want to be sitting in anything that wasn't highly sealed up and well air conditioned in that kind of weather, and that isn't most Packards I know of out there from the pre-war era.